adventures in food & travel

Guacamole Grilled Cheese

Can you tell I’ve been craving some cooler weather lately? I’m all about fall comfort foods these days.

I have to say though, when I walked out the door this morning it was actually cool out. I mean, it was probably in the 80s, but it felt brisk and I’m more than OK with that.

Not that it’s going to stay that way. The cooler temps stuck around after a big storm on Saturday. I was leaving the house when the wind started whipping around and knocking down branches but I told myself, ‘I bet there are people who aren’t going out right now because they don’t want to drive in the rain.” Then I laughed to myself for too long because I’m from Iowa and driving through some rain is nothing.

This wasn’t “some rain.” This was the rain. All the rain. It came down so hard the whole time I was driving, which, OK, not a big deal, but this is Arizona. And in Arizona, it doesn’t rain too much, therefore somehow no one ever thought to put some sort of drainage system in place anywhere. You can see where this is going. The roads started flooding, the washes filled up and rivers were flowing down entire lanes of streets. Poor little Ferne (she’s a 1999 Honda Civic manual named after her previous owner) drove through some washes I probably shouldn’t have been messing with, but I was stuck, and didn’t know what else to do! It’s not my fault — I’m so sorry, Ferne!

Through white knuckles on a steering wheel, I’m glad to say, we survived. It stopped raining while I was inside and poured again while I brought my groceries from the store to the car and then again from the car to the apartment because life is just like that sometimes, you know? Or maybe that’s just because, as Ryan would say, my “life is just like a sitcom, babe!” Real life Truman Show. But I found a five dollar bill while I carried said groceries in, and I promise that actually happened. I’ll get a picture of it up on Instagram just to prove it.

After getting rain-soaked for the third time that day, I needed some warm fall comfort food to chow on during my fifth (or sixth?) viewing of Hocus Pocus for the season. Tomato soup and grilled cheese is one of my all time favorite combinations but I decided to Southwestify it with some Mexican flair inspired by these Street Taco Hamburgers. A big scoop of creamy guacamole is sandwiched between two slices of toasty bread covered in melty cheese makes a Guacamole Grilled Cheese that’s perfect for dipping in your favorite tomato soup with fresh cilantro tossed in.